Cryo-storage room - west side

Cryo-storage room - East side

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The AMCC has 8 cryogenic vats, 3 of them already online, the other 3 awaiting the growth of the collection! All vats are vapour phase, which means that the specimens are not immersed in liquid nitrogen. This has two main advantages: a lower liquid nitrogen consumption and the prevention of contamination.

Each Vat is has 6 sections. Each section of the vat can contain up to 9 racks and each rack contains 13 boxes. Each box contains 100 vials of 1.8ml. In total, each vat can contain up to 70,000 vials.

Each vat is equipped with a digital monitor which mainly regulates the supply of liquid nitrogen and adjusts its level. It also monitors the temperature and level at regular interval and is compatible with PCs in order to retrieve those data and insert them in a spreadsheet for close monitoring and performance quality control. In addition, the Tec 2000 alerts the staff (and AMNH security) if any abnormal conditions occur in the vat, such as high temperature, or liquid nitrogen supply etc.

Different system of racks and boxes can also be used to accommodate different types of samples, such as blood bags or control rate freezing containers.

Rack system in the AMCC vats

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Monitoring the atmosphere and safety in the Cryo-storage room

The physical properties of nitrogen as a liquid is extreme coldness and expansion (in the order of 700/1). Because of these properties, the AMCC staff must be wearing personal protective equipment, such as googles, cryo-gloves, cryo-aprons at all time when working with liquid nitrogen or when working in the vats.

Since in an enclosed space, LN2 vapors displace the oxygen, the AMCC has oxygen monitors placed at both ends of the cryo-storage room constently monitoring the level of oxygen in the room. A visual and audio alarm rings as soon as the level of oxygen goes below 19.5 %. Additionally, the alarm is connected to the AMNH security panel.

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